The Commissioner of Educations Report on Violence,
Vandalism and Substance Abuse in New Jersey Public Schools is submitted
annually to the education committees of the Senate and Assembly of the
New Jersey State Legislature. It provides the Legislature with data in
four broad categories of incidents: violence, vandalism, weapons, and
substance abuse. It also summarizes initiatives taken by the New Jersey
Department of Education (DOE) to assist schools in addressing problems
of violence.

This years report is the second to provide data
from a new Internet-based incident reporting system, the Electronic Violence
and Vandalism Reporting System (EVVRS). The total number of incidents
reported by school districts in 2000-2001 was 24,973. This represents
an increase of 17 percent over last year. There were increases in three
of the four major categories of reporting. The largest increases occurred
in the violence category (26 percent), with the number of simple assaults
increasing by 29 percent and fights by 19 percent. Incidents of substance
abuse increased by 20 percent with all three types of incidents (use,
possession, and distribution) increasing. The number of weapons incidents
increased slightly (seven percent) while vandalism declined four percent.

Two-thirds of all schools reported fewer than five incidents
again in 2000-2001 -- as was reported last year -- with more than one-third
reporting no incidents at all. The distribution of the location of incidents
also mirrored that of 1999-2000 with nearly a third (32 percent) taking
place in the classroom and another 19 percent in the school corridor.
Bias was involved in fewer incidents this year; the total of 172 represents
a decline of 52 percent from 1999-2000.

Out-of school suspension is the action
taken in response to incidents in 85 percent of cases. Short-term suspensions
are the mode; suspensions of 1-4 days are given in 54 percent of the cases.
Students with disabilities constitute a larger percentage of the known
offenders (27 percent) than they do of the student population in general
(16 percent). They constitute 19 percent of the victims in those cases
where a victim was reported.School personnel
were identified as victims in 19 percent of cases, as well.

DOE has aggressively pursued a variety of strategies
to address the problems of student disruption and violence since the inception
of the Safe Schools Initiative. The departments most recent efforts
to strengthen its approach to reducing school violence and improving school
safety cover a broad array of policies, programs and other strategic initiatives,
including the following:

Development and dissemination of guidance documents:
A Guide for the Development of a Districtwide School Safety Plan;
A Guide and Application for the Operation and Approval of Middle
School Alternative Education Programs; A Guide and Application
for the Operation and Approval of High School Alternative Education
Programs; and Curriculum Framework for Health and Physical
Education;

New regulations addressing school safety, violence
and health services in the new Chapter of administrative code, N.J.A.C.
6A:16, Programs to Support Student Development;

Programs such as the Intervention and Referral Services
Initiative, Student Discipline forums, Project SERV, Safe Schools
and Communities Violence Prevention and Response Pilot Plan and the
Character Education Initiative; and

Initiatives such as collaboration with the Violence
Institute of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
(UMDNJ), the New Jersey Association of Mental Health Agencies, the
New Jersey Association of School Psychologists and the Association
of Student Assistance Professionals of New Jersey; the V-Free Initiative;
and the Peer-to-Peer Transitions Project.

Planning is underway to address the recommendations of
the student discipline policy forums conducted in the fall of 2001: development
of regulations, guidance documents and publications; provision of training
and technical assistance; increased interagency and intra-agency collaboration;
and convening an advisory panel to consider consistent uses of alternative
education policies and programs for general education students who are
suspended or expelled from school.

DOE is committed to providing ongoing support for school
district efforts to improve their comprehensive school safety programs
and further reduce the levels of violence, vandalism and substance abuse
in New Jersey schools. Continued refinement of the Internet-based reporting
system and analysis of these data will assist local districts and the
department to accurately track progress in making schools safe for all
students and staff.

The Commissioners report is submitted annually
to the education committees of the Senate and Assembly. It provides the
Legislature with data in four broad categories of incidents: violence,
vandalism, weapons and substance abuse. It also notifies the Legislature
and the public of the actions taken by the Commissioner, State Board of
Education and the Department of Education (DOE) to alleviate the problem.

Since 1994 when the State Board of Education adopted
a resolution supporting implementation of the Department of Educations
Safe Schools Initiative, the department has embarked on various actions
designed to respond to the increase in school violence and disruption
documented in the incident reporting system. Actions range from including
this initiative in the departments "Strategic Plan for Systemic
Improvement of Education in New Jersey" (Goal 5: "To ensure
that policies and programs promulgated by the State Board and the Department
of Education will positively impact the health, social and emotional well
being of all students, and to foster the delivery of state services which
effectively address the needs of the whole child.") to developing
grant programs aimed at the prevention of incidents of violence, weapons
use and possession, vandalism and substance abuse in our schools. In addition,
the department continues to partner with other state entities to provide
collaborative approaches to address these issues. The departments
recent actions under the Safe Schools Initiative are described in Section
II of this report.

The Commissioner of Education shall each year
submit a report to the Education Committees of the Senate and
General Assembly detailing the extent of violence and vandalism
in the public schools and making recommendations to alleviate
the problem.
(N.J.S.A. 18:53).

As indicated by the requirements of N.J.S.A. 18:53
(see Appendix A), violence and vandalism in the schools have been an expressed
concern of the state Legislature since 1978. Along with the requirement
of a report by the Commissioner, the law requires that school staff who
witness or who have knowledge of an incident of violence must file a report
of the incident with the school principal. That section of the law requiring
the superintendent of the district to provide a summary of all such incidents
annually to the local board of education was recently amended to require
that a public hearing, in lieu of the public meeting, be held in the third
week of October, and to submit a transcript of the proceedings to the
department. Thus the Legislature, in strengthening requirements on local
reporting, is further focusing attention on the issue of school violence
at the local level.

In 1984, the Commissioner of Education added substance
abuse to the incident reporting system because of the seriousness of the
problem of substance use in schools. In 1995, the weapons category was
expanded to address new reporting requirements of the federal Gun-Free
Schools Act.

This year's report is the second to be based upon violence
and vandalism data submitted through the Internet-based Electronic Violence
and Vandalism Reporting System (EVVRS). The EVVRS User Manual contains
definitions and instructions for the reporting of incidents at the local
level. The department provides districts with a three-page form that includes
a page each for incident, offender and victim information. These pages
mirror the image on the computer screen. Incidents are recorded on the
form at the school, and that record of the incident is entered on-line
directly by school (or district) staff onto the EVVRS database resident
at DOE in Trenton. Use of a common form and clear definitions of incidents
supports uniformity in reporting.

Over the years, the types of incidents reported and their
definitions have been modified to bring greater clarity to the reporting
process. In 1995, at the recommendation of a task force on school violence,
the department convened a working group to review the reporting forms
and instructions. Responding to the working groups recommendations,
DOE established a number of procedural changes in 1995-96. These changes
included the simplification of the district summary reporting form, clarification
of the definitions of each type of incident, and the production and distribution
to districts of videotape that explained how to use the new form and reinforced
staff responsibilities to report incidents to school officials. To further
promote consistency of reporting across districts, the EVVRS User Manual
included a broader definition of fight and clarifying language
drawn principally from the juvenile justice system.

The department recognizes that the way in which districts
interpret and apply the definitions in the manual varies greatly.
Some medium-sized districts without a history of severe problems report
totals for violence that approach the totals for violence reported by
the state's largest districts. It appears that different standards for
reporting are being applied by the two types of districts. To promote
consistency in reporting, the department conducted training for district
staff; made access to definitions easier through revisions to the EVVRS
User Manual; expanded the Frequently Asked Questions document resident
on the EVVRS homepage; and has conducted a preliminary analysis of the
data. However, the issue of interpretation of what student misconduct
must be reported is evident again in this years data. The DOE plans
to continue data analysis in order to pinpoint the problem.

In addition to this type of inter-district variability,
the number of incidents for any one district may not match the total number
of disciplinary actions taken by the district in response to student misconduct.
For example, a district may report 15 fights during a year, but suspend
60 students for fighting. This difference is a result of the distinction
between requirements for district reporting to the state and to their
local boards of education. Districts, as the law stipulates, must report
all acts of violence and vandalism to the state. They are not required
to report minor incidents, such as a shoving match between students, or
minor acts of vandalism, such as petty theft. At the local level, however,
each district has its own standards and procedures for reporting student
behavior that results in disciplinary action. The state system of reporting
is designed to capture the more serious types of incidents, whereas the
local reporting system covers the entire range of student misconduct.
Thus, differences between the totals for locally reported disciplinary
actions and totals of incidents reported to the state are to be expected.

By 1998-99, it had become clear that the paper system
used for reporting incidents had become administratively burdensome in
meeting the increased demand for unduplicated counts of incidents and
types of offenders and victims, specific information on firearm incidents
and, in the case of students with disabilities, a count of the number
of students with disabilities suspended for more than ten days, by race
and type of disability. In response, a system by which each district submitted
a record of each single incident and associated offender and victim information
was created.

In March 2000, the department's Electronic Violence and
Vandalism Reporting System (EVVRS), http://homeroom.state.nj.us/index.htm,
opened for the Internet-based collection of data on incidents of violence,
vandalism, weapons, and substance abuse that occur in or on school property.
The 1999-2000 school year marked the first period for which data, previously
submitted by schools on paper forms, were collected electronically.

Use of the EVVRS reduces administrative burden on districts
who no longer need to submit the following reports to DOE:

Using data that schools enter into the EVVRS, the DOE
has the capacity to generate these reports  as well as the report
required by the United States Department of Education (USDOE) on the suspension
or removal of students with disabilities for reasons not related to violence,
vandalism, weapons, or substance abuse. The EVVRS thus eases the end-of-the-year
state and federal reporting responsibilities of districts, while making
data entry as easy as possible. Within the EVVRS, districts may order
local summary reports of data they have entered onto the system; reports
arrive as an e-mail message within 24 hours.

District totals for the major reporting categories (violence,
vandalism, weapons and substance abuse) appear in Appendix D. The summary
of the data that follows includes comparisons to last years figures
as data for both years are based on the same definitions of incidents
and the same reporting system i.e., the EVVRS. However, as the districts
varied in their ability to adjust to the new system, some districts likely
became more proficient in reporting only this year. Thus, as one would
expect, more incidents have been reported in the current year, 2000-2001,
than in the prior year.

This report, like last years, provides unduplicated
counts of incidents for the total number of incidents and the total by
major reporting category. Thus, the grand total of all incidents and the
total for incident categories will not appear to add up. In prior years,
the total number of incidents of violence, for example, was the sum of
each type of violence, e.g., threat, simple assault. Beginning with the
introduction of the EVVRS in 1999-2000, if a single incident included
threat and simple assault, each type would be recorded and counted, but
in deriving a total for the number of incidents of violence, the incident
that included both a threat and a simple assault would be counted once.
Similarly, in calculating an unduplicated count of the total number of
incidents, an incident that included a fight and damage to property would
count as one incident (as well as one incident of violence and one incident
of vandalism). A bias incident that included violence and vandalism would
be counted as one bias incident. Totals, as indicated, are unduplicated
counts of the number of incidents within a category.

This analysis examines differences in the number of incidents
by the type (i.e., grade range) of the school. For the purposes of this
analysis, an elementary school is defined as any school that ends at grade
6 or below; a middle school is any school that ends in the 7 through 9
grade range, and a high school is defined as any school that ends at grade
10 or above. Charter schools are included, as their grade range would
indicate. Schools with only students with disabilities for which data
on grade range were not available were classified as middle schools.

Nearly half the incidents (48%) took place in high schools,
an identical percentage to last years figure. A third (34 percent)
occurred in middle schools (vs. 36 percent in 1999-2000) and 18 percent
at elementary schools (vs. 15 percent in 1999-2000). Figure 1 below shows
that the number of incidents occurring in each type of school increased
in 2000-2001.

Overall, two-thirds of schools (66 percent) reported
five or fewer incidents. Six to ten incidents occurred in ten percent
of schools, 11-24 in 12 percent and 25 or more also in 12 percent of all
schools.

Header information is the data that a district records
on every incident and includes:

the date and time of the incident;

the location of the incident (optional field);

whether police were notified and if a complaint was
filed; and

whether bias was involved.

The date and time data are primarily for local use and
were not analyzed. The distribution of data on the location of incidents
is very similar to that reported for 1999-2000 (see Table 1). Three incidents
in ten occur in the classroom.

Table
1

Location
of Incidents

1999-2000

2000-2001

Cafeteria

1,459

8%

1,847

8%

Classroom

5,726

30%

7,153

32%

Corridor

3,645

19%

4,214

19%

Other
inside school

3,440

18%

3,649

16%

School
grounds

2,924

15%

3,049

13%

Bus

744

4%

894

4%

Building
exterior

182

1%

433

2%

Other
outside

1,175

6%

1,439

6%

Total

19,295

101%*

22,678

100%

Missing**

2,241

3,205

*
Total exceeds 100% due to rounding.

**
Districts are not required to provide information on the location
of incidents.

Police were notified in one-third (33 percent) of all
incidents reported by districts. No complaint was filed in 16 percent
of all incidents while a complaint was filed in 17 percent. These percentages
are nearly identical to last years. See Table 2.

Table
2

Police
Notification

1999-2000

2000-2001

None

14,037

66%

16,827

67%

Notified,
no complaint

3,314

16%

3,975

16%

Notified,
complaint filed

3,901

18%

4,170

17%

Total

21,252

100%

24,972

100%

Districts reported 172 incidents of bias in the 2000 - 2001 school year,
which is a drop of 52 percent from the total number of incidents of bias
in 1999-2000. Figure 2 shows that the biggest decline came in the violence
category. (Sum of incidents in figure exceeds unduplicated total (see
Background: Unduplicated Counts) in this section.)

Figure 3 displays the total unduplicated count of incidents
by each of the four major reporting categories for the past two years.
Substantial increases occurred in the violence and substances categories,
while weapons incidents increased marginally and vandalism declined. Although
a strict comparison to data reported prior to the advent of the EVVRS
is not possible1, some comparisons can be
informative. As the number of incidents of violence has been increasing,
the number of incidents of vandalism has been declining. This trend can
be observed in the increase in the ratio of violence incidents to vandalism
incidents. In the figure below, the ratio of violence to vandalism incidents
in 1999-2000 is 2.5:1 and 3.25:1 in 2000-2001. In 1995-96 there were 11,907
incidents of violence and 8,402 incidents of vandalism for a ratio of
1.4:1. Thus the number of incidents of violence has also been increasing
relative to the vandalism count.

1Comparability
is compromised by the method of calculating (unduplicated) totals, the
dropping/adding of a violence category, and slight modifications in incident
definitions.

The count of incidents by type is shown in Table 3. Data
on firearm incidents is included for handguns and rifles only. Since air
guns and imitation guns are not classified as firearms under federal law,
they are classified as "Other Weapons." The overall increase
in violence is indicated by the 29 percent increase in simple assault,
19 percent increase in the number of fights and 43 percent increase in
the number of threats reported. Only the gang fight category showed a
decline. In the vandalism category, there were 11 percent fewer incidents
of damage to property and 22 percent fewer incidents of arson. The increase
in fireworks incidents may be an artifact of reporting: many districts
reclassified incidents from the bomb category to the fireworks category
when they learned that "cherry bombs" and similar sized explosives
belonged in the fireworks category. This same review process explains
the reduction in bomb offenses under the weapons category. All types of
substance incidents increased. See Appendix C for a list of the type of
substances reported by districts.

Table
3

Incidents
by Type, 1999-2000, 2000-2001

Change

1999-2000

2000-2001

N

%

Violence

Simple
Assault

4,533

5,832

1,299

29%

Aggravated
Assault

359

419

60

17%

Fight

5,205

6,193

988

19%

Gang
Fight

73

49

-24

-33%

Robbery

62

66

4

6%

Extortion

26

29

3

12%

Sex Offense

344

399

55

16%

Threat

2,235

3,203

968

43%

Vandalism

Arson

204

160

-44

-22%

Bomb
Threat1

229

266

37

16%

Burglary

202

159

-43

-21%

Damage
to Property

2,685

2,378

-307

-11%

Fireworks

86

135

49

57%

Theft

1,732

1,784

52

3%

Trespassing

300

226

-74

-25%

Weapons

Firearm2

22

10

-12

-55%

Other
Weapon

1,387

1,512

125

9%

Bomb
Offense3

16

1

-15

-94%

Substances

Use

1,786

2,140

354

20%

Possession

730

873

143

20%

Distribution

86

127

41

48%

1.
For 1999-2000, 229 includes four fake bombs. For 2000-2001, total
of 266 includes six fake bombs.

2.
Firearm incidents include handgun and rifle incidents only. Incidents
involving air guns and imitation guns are classified as "Other
Weapons" as federal law does not classify them as firearms.

3.
A check of bomb incidents in 2000-2001 revealed that many incidents
did not meet the criteria of a bomb; many were more appropriately
reclassified as fireworks incidents.

A total of 1,854 incidents of vandalism were recorded
in which the district incurred a cost. The total cost to all districts
was $1,143,782. The figure below indicates that property damage (64 percent)
and theft (32 percent) accounted for nearly all incidents related to cost.
As multiple types of vandalism were involved in a few incidents, the total
by type of vandalism in Figure 4 exceeds the unduplicated total of 1,854
incidents.

In the preponderance of cases (85%), students who committed
an offense received an out-of-school suspension. Removal to an alternative
program was used in only three percent of cases (see Table 4). There was
very little change in the distribution of actions taken from 1999-2000.

Table
4

Disciplinary
Actions Taken

1999-2000

2000-2001

Expulsion

53

0.3%

65

0.3%

Removal

750

3.9%

696

2.9%

In-School
Suspension

1,473

7.7%

1,624

6.8%

Out-of-School
Suspension

15,771

83.0%

20,326

84.9%

Other

961

5.1%

1,238

5.2%

Total

19,008

100.0%

23,949

100.0%

The modal duration of an out-of-school suspension was
from one to four days (see Figure 5. Only two percent (n=427) of suspensions
exceed ten days in duration.

Of the 1,256 students placed in an alternative setting,
most were placed in an in-district alternative program or school (639),
or another type of alternative setting (94). Of the 167 students placed
in an out-of-district program, 12 attended a county alternative education
program. See Figure 6.

In 2000-2001 in the cases where the offender was known,
regular education students constituted nearly three-quarters (72 percent)
of the offenders. Students with disabilities, who represent 16 percent
of the student population, constituted slightly more than one quarter
(27 percent) of offenders. Only one percent of offenders were students
from another district or non-students. The distribution of offender types
was nearly identical to last years. See Table 5.

Table
5

Offender
Type

1999-2000

2000-2001

Regular
Education Student

14,626

71%

15,689

72%

Student
with Disability

5,652

28%

5,861

27%

Student
from Other District, Non-Student

198

1%

194

1%

Total

20,476

100%

21,744

100%

Note.
Omits cases where offender is unknown.

Regular education students constitute 60 percent of the
victims in incidents where a victim is reported (see Table 6). While the
number of school personnel who are victims increased by 137 (or eight
percent) over 1999-2000, the total of 1,810 represents a slight decrease
in the proportion of victims who are school personnel. The proportion
of victims who were students with a disability increased slightly.

As the districts varied in their ability to adjust to
the EVVRS that was initiated in March 2000, some districts likely became
proficient in reporting only this year. Thus, as one would expect, more
incidents have been reported in the current year, 2000-2001, than in the
prior year. The total number of incidents of 24,973 represents an increase
of 17 percent over the total of 21,367 reported in 1999-2000. There were
increases in three of the four major categories of reporting. The largest
increases occurred in the violence category (26 percent), with the number
of simple assaults increasing by 29 percent and fights by 19 percent.
Incidents of substance abuse increased by 20 percent with all three types
of incidents (use, possession, and distribution) increasing. The number
of weapons incidents increased slightly (seven percent) while vandalism
declined four percent.

Two-thirds of all schools (66 percent) reported fewer
than five incidents again in 2000-2001 -- as was reported last year --
with more than one-third (36 percent) reporting no incidents at all. The
distribution of the location of incidents also mirrored that of 1999-2000
with nearly a third (32 percent) taking place in the classroom and another
19 percent in the school corridor. Bias was involved in fewer incidents
this year; the total of 172 represents a decline of 52 percent from 1999-2000.

Out-of school suspension is the action
taken in response to incidents in 85 percent of cases. Short-term suspensions
are the mode; suspensions of 1-4 days are given in 54 percent of the cases.
Students with disabilities constitute a larger percentage of the known
offenders (27 percent) than they do of the student population in general
(16 percent). They constitute 19 percent of the victims in those cases
where a victim was reported.School personnel
were identified as victims in 19 percent of cases, as well.

Overall, the successful implementation of the EVVRS in
a second year of operation indicates that districts have become acclimated
to reporting individual incident data over the Internet. Local school
staff have adapted to its use and no longer spend time completing reports
to the federal government that the department submits with data from the
EVVRS. An enhanced User Manual, training and the use of the e-mail technical
support system will continue to influence positively the reliability of
the data. Reports in successive years will be able to utilize the enriched
database to identify areas of need for departmental initiatives to ensure
a safe learning environment for all students.

Types and degrees of school violence should be viewed
as various points on a continuum. At one end of the continuum is the bullying
or shoving-match behavior between fellow students that must be curtailed
before it escalates into something more serious. At the extreme end are
fatal incidences, such as the terrible tragedy that occurred in Littleton,
Colorado in 1999, as well as the threat to our homeland security with
the events of September 11, 2001. Such incidences instill fear in the
minds of students and parents and can create the impression that violence
is rampant and that our schools are being threatened.

Despite this perception, New Jerseys schools are
basically safe places with school districts and the state implementing
programmatic responses along the continuum. Comprehensive responses include
the following: the development of clearly defined student behavior policies
and codes of student conduct; an assessment of the immediate surroundings
of the school community; the development of an emergency operations plan,
with clearly defined policies and procedures; a plan to address a crisis,
both internal and external; and a plan for the effective use of available
community resources.

Data on programs reported to the state by districts indicate
that educators have matched the types of violence with appropriately designed
plans and programs. They have put in place emergency management plans
and have purchased security devices to provide a surveillance capacity
to protect against intruders. They also have put in place specific programs
to enhance their ability to intervene early when students are disruptive.
For example, 407 school districts reported implementing conflict resolution
programs and 353 school districts reported the adoption of peer mediation
programs in the 1999-2000 school year, strategies that have been recommended
as part of the departments Safe Schools Initiative.

The capacity for local response is enhanced by funding
for violence prevention and drug and alcohol abuse prevention from the
federal government. Under the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities
Act (SDFSCA) program, $7.6 million dollars (approximately $7 per student)
was provided through the department to local districts for this purpose
in 2000-2001. Districts supplement these federal funds with local monies.
While no state funds are specifically targeted to all school districts
for violence or substance abuse prevention, state funds have been appropriated
to support the following initiatives:

In addition, legislation has been passed to strengthen
school reporting requirements for incidents of violence and vandalism
(P. L. 2001, Chapter 299) and to designate a week for school violence
awareness in New Jersey schools (P. L. 2001, Chapter 298).

DOE has aggressively pursued a variety of policy and
program strategies to address the problem of disruption and violence since
the beginning of the Safe Schools Initiative in 1994. The following
is a summary of the department's most recent efforts to strengthen the
assistance offered to school districts to increase school safety and reduce
school violence:

DOE has awarded a grant to The Richard Stockton College
of New Jersey to implement an eighteen-month pilot program in the 2001-2002
school year in which grant program staff is collaborating with three school
districts in Atlantic County, as well as community-based organizations
and stakeholders, to develop effective violence prevention, intervention
and postvention plans. One outcome of the pilot program will be a report
prepared for dissemination to all school districts. The report will provide
guidance on the processes and strategies developed under the pilot program,
and current information on effective school responses to violence and
the management of crises.

The State Board of Education approved a new Chapter of
administrative code titled Programs to Support Student Development
(N.J.A.C. 6A:16) in April 2001. The new Chapter includes new subchapters
that address school safety issues, including:

Codes of student conduct;

Emergency and crisis management plans;

Incident reporting;

Access to juvenile information;

Firearms, weapons and assaults offenses; and

Law enforcement operations for substances, weapons
and safety.

The regulations also contain subchapters on comprehensive
substance abuse programs, substance abuse intervention, reporting allegations
of child abuse and neglect, intervention and referral services, alternative
education, home or out-of-school instruction for general education students
and school health services.

An internal working group was established by the Division
of Student Services to review student discipline in response to issues
that were raised during the public comments on N.J.A.C. 6A:16,
Programs to Support Student Development. A major activity of the
working group was the administration of nine policy forums in the fall
of 2001 that were designed to engage representatives from statewide education
associations and constituency groups in identifying a broad rage of student
discipline concerns and possible remedies for department consideration.

The report on the outcomes of the policy forums titled
Final Report and Recommendations on Student Discipline for Consideration
by the New Jersey Department of Education is available on the DOE
website. The department is considering implementation of the recommendations
from the student discipline policy forums, which include the following
activities:

Development of a regulatory framework for student
discipline;

Development or revision of guidance documents and
publications;

Provision of training and technical assistance;

Increased interagency and intra-agency collaboration;
and

Convening an advisory panel to explore consistent
uses of programs and policies regarding alternative education for
general education students who are suspended or expelled from school.

In 2000-2001 the DOE provided $300,000 to the Administrative
Office of the Courts to implement this grant program in five county probation
divisions. The program, which began in 1997-98, encourages drug- and violence-free
lifestyles in school-aged adjudicated youth by combining community service
learning opportunities with cognitive and behavioral learning. Participation
by youth in community service experiences helps offenders develop a sense
of responsibility toward their community. The cognitive skills curriculum
helps offenders to understand and evaluate their behavior, test new ways
of thinking, learn behavioral strategies that apply to real-life situations,
and improve their attitudes toward school. The county probation division
staff members who are assigned to the program receive training in the
delivery of the cognitive skills curriculum. Each participating county
receives grant funding for two years. To date, all six counties that implemented
the program but no longer receive grant funding continue to operate the
program.

The Intervention and Referral Services (I&RS) Initiative
supports implementation of the new I&RS regulations (N.J.A.C. 6A:16-7)
by providing technical assistance to districts for the establishment of
building-based multidisciplinary problem solving teams (grades K-12) that
are designed to assist students who are experiencing learning, behavior
or health difficulties and to assist staff who have difficulties in addressing
students learning, behavior or health needs. The technical assistance
provided by DOE includes a four-part videotape series and accompanying
companion guide and flyer; a comprehensive Resource Manual for Intervention
and Referral Services; and the provision of training to prepare building
administrators and building-based teams to implement the I&RS regulations.
The tapes were disseminated to all school districts in June 1999 and the
Resource Manual was distributed to districts in February 2000.
The Resource Manual has been updated to reflect the provisions
of the new regulations and will be forwarded to schools in the spring
of 2002. Approximately 180 building-based teams have been trained since
April 2000. In addition to providing team training annually, supplemental
training programs will be offered that are specifically designed to address
the ongoing professional development needs identified by members of trained
teams.

Regulations for alternative education programs have been
adopted by the State Board of Education as a subchapter (N.J.A.C. 6A:16-8)
in the new Chapter of administrative code titled Programs to Support
Student Development (N.J.A.C. 6A:16) The provisions of the
new subchapter regulate the application process and approval criteria
for the operations of alternative education programs. DOE staff provided
technical assistance on the establishment of alternative education programs
at the annual conference of the Alternative Education Association of New
Jersey in May 2001. The departments current guidance documents titled
A Guide and Application for the Operation and Approval of Middle School
Alternative Education Programs and A Guide and Application for
the Operation and Approval of High School Alternative Education Programs
will be revised in 2002, in accordance with the provisions of the
new administrative code. Technical assistance on the use of the revised
guides for middle school and high school alternative education programs
will be provided to schools and districts once the guidance documents
are revised. Special assistance will be provided to the Abbott school
districts, which are required to have alternative education programs in
middle and high schools.

Since September 2000, DOE has provided funds to supplement
the V-Free Initiative, which is administered through the Center for Youth
Policy and Programs of the New Jersey Department of State. The program
provided mini-grants to schools and community-based organizations to support
student-initiated local efforts to prevent violence, vandalism and victimization.
Since September 2001, there have been eleven (11) mini-grant award recipients
from all over New Jersey.

This project is designed to reduce factors that place
students at risk for substance abuse and other negative behaviors as they
transition from middle school to high school. Under an interagency agreement,
DOE has provided a second year of funding to the New Jersey Department
of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) to expand the Peer-to-Peer Transitions
Project. The project utilizes the existing network of peer leadership
programs in New Jersey that has been established under the New Jersey
Middle School Peer-to-Peer Program, a collaborative effort among DOE,
DHSS, the Governors Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse and the
Department of Law and Public Safety. Under the project, a survey will
be conducted of all middle schools and high schools to learn how schools
design their peer education programs and determine what services are needed
to support the development and maintenance of peer education programs
in New Jersey schools.

The Core Curriculum Content Standards in Comprehensive
Health and Physical Education contain specific indicators under Standards
2.1 (health promotion and disease prevention concepts and skills) and
2.2 (health enhancing personal, interpersonal, and life skills) that require
public schools to teach violence prevention skills including media resistance,
peer pressure resistance, peer leadership, problem-solving, conflict resolution
and stress management. These standards were further refined by a standards
revision panel during 2001 to provide progress indicators at grades two,
four, six, eight, and twelve. The proposed revisions were disseminated
for public comment in January 2002. The Curriculum Framework for Health
and Physical Education was disseminated in October 1999 to all schools
and includes 140 suggested sample lessons for educators to use to address
topics related to violence prevention and positive social development.
In a survey conducted in 2000 of all New Jersey public schools enrolling
students in grades 6-12, health teachers report that schools were teaching
the following: violence prevention knowledge (87%); stress management
(89%); conflict resolution (92%); and resisting peer pressure (99%).

The Attorney General and the Commissioner in 1999 issued
a revised Uniform State Memorandum of Agreement between Education and
Law Enforcement Officials. Sections on weapons offenses, bias crimes
and sexual harassment have been included in the revised memorandum. The
memorandum, which is reviewed and signed annually by local education and
law enforcement officials, forms the basis for sharing information between
education and law enforcement representatives and sets parameters for
law enforcement investigations. Presentations to chief school administrators
have been made at county roundtable meetings, emphasizing the importance
of the expanded agreement, and the Commissioner forwarded a memo to all
chief school administrators in January 2002 reminding them of their obligations
regarding the memorandum.

The Violence Institute of New Jersey (VINJ), University
of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), was established to provide
resources to state government, as well as coordinate violence prevention
and research activities within UMDNJ. The department has established a
relationship with VINJ to help identify violence prevention resources
for use by schools and, where appropriate, coordinate with VINJ on addressing
violence issues in schools. DOE and VINJ regularly share information and
resources. For example, VINJ staff represented DOE at a federally sponsored
national conference titled School Safety: Technologies, Research and
Emerging Concepts, and will provide a report to DOE on new information
and recommendations for the development of safe school campuses.

The department is administering the $4.75 million Governor's
New Jersey Character Education Partnership (NJCEP) Initiative.
This voluntary state aid initiative is designed to assist public school
educators in their efforts to plan, implement and enhance character education
programs in at least one schoolbuilding in each district.
During the 2000-2001 school year, 99 percent of the public school districts
participated in the character education initiative. The majority of participating
schools (59 percent) chose Character Education Programs of Merit
recommended by DOE. Other options included the following: 11 percent of
schools chose alternative program providers; 18 percent of schools elected
to implement their own homegrown programs; and 12 percent of schools selected
combinations of program choices. The department provided technical support
and ongoing consultation to districts to support their program implementation
efforts.

In addition, the departments
federally funded character education pilot demonstration project completed
its fourth year, during the 2000-2001 school year, in the Newark, Jersey
City and Paterson school districts. Character education is being infused
into the language arts and social studies curriculum in grades one through
eight in the Newark School District, which is the main pilot site. A youth
leadership development and service-learning program called the Community
Coach program, created by the Do Something Fund, and successfully piloted
in the Newark School District for the past four years, has continued to
expand and has become a national program. There are approximately 1,550
educators whobelong to the professional development network established through
this project.

Under emergency response funds from the United States
Department of Education, DOE provided $1.5 million in grants to 35 New
Jersey school districts for supportive grief and trauma counseling and
other services for students and educators as a direct result of the terrorist
attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
The funds were made available to meet the immediate and long-term crisis.
These grants also provided for equitable participation by affected nonpublic
school students and staff.

The DOE and the State Chamber of Commerce have established
the Disaster Fund for the Children of New Jersey which has $3 million,
with $1.5 million donated by Panasonic Corporation. As of December 2001,
40 school districts in New Jersey donated money that will go to children
and families affected by the September 11, 2001 tragedy.

Per the provisions of C:2C:43-3.5 and C.54A:9-25.12 et.
seq, a Drug Abuse Education Fund (DAEF) has been established comprised
of portions of taxpayer-designated refunds and penalties assessed against
individuals adjudicated or convicted of certain crimes. The resources
accumulated in the fund are appropriated annually to DOE for distribution
to non-governmental entities for the utilization of law enforcement personnel
in providing drug abuse education on a statewide basis. DOE has received
the first appropriation under these statutory provisions and plans to
issue a contract for the first year of services in the spring of 2002.

This grant to D.A.R.E. New Jersey, Inc. is designed to
assist in the development of consortia between law enforcement personnel
and local educational agencies to expand, modify and implement statewide
substance abuse and violence prevention program activities. The programs
provided under the grant are intended to give students the skills to recognize
and resist the pressures that place them at risk for substance use and
violence, as well as stimulate community interest and encourage family
involvement in substance abuse prevention and positive heath practices.

The Student Support Services Planning and Development
Initiative will provide support to 13 school districts interested in refining
or reforming their student services programs. A not-for-profit, private
vendor will work with participating districts to evaluate existing student
support services, assess the support needs of students and design and
implement the optimum configuration and systems for delivering and sustaining
student support services for their school populations. The foundation
of the project is the self-study with each district, which will encompass
the identification of existing programs, an analysis of student services
in relation to identified student needs, an assessment of effectiveness
and efficiency of existing programs and recommendations for reforming
or refining these programs.

This program is scheduled to begin
in the 2002-2003 school year. The two-year effort will offer each participating
district a small incentive grant of approximately $5,000 per year to help
support district participation; substantial technical assistance from
a consultant contractor; and a collegial process for evaluation, review
and revision of how student services are organized, staffed and delivered.
The districts were selected based on an articulation agreement with the
Office of School to Career and College Initiatives, which is initiating
a complementary project with pilot sites, under their New Jersey School
Counseling Initiative. Exemplary work products resulting from the initiative
will be showcased regionally and statewide.

One of the conclusions to be drawn from the terrorist
attacks on September 11, 2001 and the Littleton, Colorado school tragedy
is that schools should examine how they collaborate with local mental
health agencies. The effective use of student support personnel and the
development of relationships between them and mental health providers
are important components of schools' responses to violence. Therefore,
DOE continues to forge effective links between New Jersey schools and
mental health providers.

Specifically, DOE staff continues to have discussions
with the leadership of the New Jersey Association of School Psychologists
(NJASP) and the Association of Student Assistance Professionals of New
Jersey (ASAPNJ) to establish effective working relationships, identify
areas of concern and consider strategies for improving the delivery of
student support services. NJASP, ASAPNJ and the New Jersey Association
of Mental Health Agencies (NJAMHA) have all assigned representatives to
serve on an advisory board to help guide the Student Support Services
Planning and Development Initiative (SSSPDI). In addition, DOE staff provided
an orientation on the new regulations under N.J.A.C. 6A:16, Programs
to Support Student Development, at the annual NJASP conference in
December 2001.

In November 2001 the New Jersey Department of Education,
in support of the Strategic Plan for Systemic Improvement of Education
in New Jersey established by the State Board of Education, developed
and disseminated A Guide for the Development of a Districtwide School
Safety Plan. The purpose of the Guide is to provide New Jersey
schools with background information for addressing school safety in a
comprehensive manner.

The Guide is intended to provide schools with
a general framework for planning and an inventory of supportive resources
for the development of comprehensive school safety plans and programs
designed to effect positive behavior in schools in order to ensure a safe
school climate. It describes a continuum of strategies and activities
that are key to establishing safe and secure educational environments,
ranging from the physical makeup of school buildings, to prevention and
intervention programs and services, to community involvement, to responding
to the aftermath of a crisis. The publication was distributed to all county
superintendents and is also posted at the following websites:

Districts use many curricular and non-curricular programs
in their efforts to prevent violence among students. The most frequently
cited programs (in 1999-2000) were programs developed locally, Drug Abuse
Resistance Education (DARE), Heres Looking at You 2000, and Social
Problem Solving Program. See Table 7.

It is interesting to note that many districts use more
than one violence prevention program: nearly two-in-five (38 percent)
use three different programs, and another 20 percent use four curricula.
Districts also report engaging in numerous violence prevention and/or
gang resistance activities such as targeting of populations, training
of district and school staff, development of program materials and public
awareness activities.

Table 7

Number of Districts Using Selected Violence Prevention
Curricula, 1999-2000

The recent history of violent tragedies in our nations
schools and communities has strengthened the resolve of the department
to provide policies, programs and other strategic initiatives which support
local district efforts to develop and maintain safe and disciplined school
environments. DOE is committed to providing schools with supportive resources
for the improvement of comprehensive school safety programs and helping
schools to further reduce current levels of violence, vandalism and substance
abuse. In light of our commitment, DOE plans to implement or maintain
the following:

Disaffected Youth Grant Program  The goal
of this planned program is to help school-age children and adolescents
who are at risk for involvement in the juvenile justice system remain
in school or return to school and to achieve the Core Curriculum Content
Standards. The program is intended to address the identified academic
and nonacademic needs of these youth and their families in targeted school
districts.

Violence Awareness Week  On January 3,
2002, a state law was passed designating the third week of October each
year as "School Violence Awareness Week." During this week,
school districts will be required to organize such activities as age-appropriate
forums for student discussions on conflict resolution, issues of student
diversity and tolerance. The department will provide guidelines and information
to local boards of education for use in planning the activities in observance
of the week.

Principals and Parents Promoting Youth Development
and Discipline  The goal of this planned project is to assist
schools through a collaborative effort among DOE, The College of New Jersey
and the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association to effectively
engage parents and families in promoting positive youth development, with
particular attention given to discipline issues. The project includes
the development of a state-of-the-art manual for school principals to
provide them with relevant research, strategies and materials to use with
parents in promoting positive youth development, and the provision of
principals institutes supporting use of the manual.

Showcasing Exemplary and Promising Practices
 One of the responsibilities of administering Safe and Drug-Free
Schools and Communities Act (SDFSCA) funds is to encourage school districts
to adopt research-based programs as a way of implementing the Principles
of Effectiveness that schools are required to use as the basis for the
planning and selection of programs funded under SDFSCA. The department
plans to invite selected developers of programs designated as exemplary
or promising by the United States Department of Education to showcase
their programs to New Jersey educators. The presentations will be videotaped
and made available to all New Jersey school districts.

Technical Assistance  The department intends
to provide technical support for the implementation of the new regulations
addressing school safety, violence and health services found in the new
Chapter of administrative code, N.J.A.C. 6A:16, Programs to Support
Student Development.

The DOE, in conjunction with the New Jersey Education
Association, the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association and
the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, is planning three
regional conferences for the spring of 2002 designed to provide educators
with state-of-the-art information on school safety and crisis prevention
and response.

Collaborative Partnerships
 DOE aims to continue to collaborate with the following groups:
Violence Institute of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New
Jersey (UMDNJ), the New Jersey Association of Mental Health Agencies,
the New Jersey Association of School Psychologists and the Association
of Student Assistance Professionals of New Jersey, and intends to continue
to support the Peer-to-Peer Transitions Project in collaboration with
the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.

AN ACT concerning violence in the public schools and amending P.L.1982,
c.163.

C.18A:17-46 Reporting of act of violence by school employee;
annual report; public hearing.

Any school employee observing or having direct knowledge from a participant
or victim of an act of violence shall, in accordance with standards established
by the commissioner, file a report describing the incident to the school
principal in a manner prescribed by the commissioner, and copy of same
shall be forwarded to the district superintendent.

The principal shall notify the district superintendent of schools of
the action taken regarding the incident. Annually, at a public hearing
in October, the superintendent of schools shall report to the board of
education all acts of violence and vandalism which occurred during the
previous school year. The proceedings of the public hearing shall be transcribed
and kept on file by the board of education, which shall make the transcript
available to the public. Verification of the annual report on violence
and vandalism shall be part of the State's monitoring of the school district,
and the State Board of Education shall adopt regulations that impose a
penalty on a school employee who knowingly falsifies the report. A board
of education shall provide ongoing staff training, in cooperation with
the Department of Education, in fulfilling the reporting requirements
pursuant to this section. The majority representative of the school employees
shall have access monthly to the number and disposition of all reported
acts of school violence and vandalism.

The board of education shall file the transcript of the public hearing
with the Division of Student Services in the Department of Education by
November 1. The division shall review the transcript to ensure compliance
with this section of law. The costs of staff training and transcribing
the public hearing and printing the transcript shall be paid by the Department
of Education.

It shall be unlawful for any board of education to discharge or in any
manner discriminate against a school employee as to his employment because
the employee had filed a report pursuant to section 1 of this act. Any
employee discriminated against shall be restored to his employment and
shall be compensated by the board of education for any loss of wages arising
out of the discrimination; provided, however, if the employee shall cease
to be qualified to perform the duties of his employment he shall not be
entitled to restoration and compensation.

L.1982, c. 163, s. 2, eff. Oct. 28, 1982.

18A:17-48. Annual report to legislature

The Commissioner of Education shall each year submit a report to the
Education Committees of the Senate and General Assembly detailing the
extent of violence and vandalism in the public schools and making recommendations
to alleviate the problem.